There’s no real mystery why many Realtors are so successful.
After all, in a relational business the human dynamic is powerful. According to NAR, 89% of buyers would use their Realtor again or recommend their agent to a friend. The best real estate professionals do a fantastic job of selling their value and credibility, from the initial listing presentation to the final moments at the closing table.
Associations can harness this effectiveness to sell their value. In other words, associations can get by – even thrive – with a little messaging help from their friends.
Association leaders and staff can communicate the value of their organization, but their effectiveness pales in comparison with agents’ messaging effectiveness. Here are several ways you can highlight members and at the same time build value in your organization.
- Provide media/speaking training to leaders: A narrative is always better coming from someone who is central to the storyline. Realizing this, many associations book time before the governance year begins to make sure their leaders get the polish they need. This also gives an AE time to discuss possible questions that might come up and how to best answer them.
Providing media training serves a dual purpose. After all, the very skills in relating talking points before a camera can just as easily be used in other association media outreach. In fact, use practice sessions in media training to create a series of videos that you can use to highlight organizational value for new and potential members. - Review your email newsletter: Let’s be honest here: Email newsletters often are at the bottom of your to-do list, falling in the “fun” category of paying invoices and crafting meeting agendas. Take an honest look at what you are sending out. Are you retreading material verbatim from earlier newsletters? Are you telling people things they might not otherwise know, pointing them to new resources to help them in their business or including shout-outs to volunteers who make the organization run? If not, consider making changes, all the while paying close attention to metrics such as open rates and timing of communications.
- Strategically use video: Video takes time. It’s one thing to shoot the video, but quite another to produce it and send it out on various platforms. Look at your organization’s coverage calendar and see where video would work most effectively, taking care not to overwhelm the teams assigned to create the content. This can be as simple as having two members once a month discuss the housing market, tying back to the housing data your organization provides as a service. You can record this on Zoom.
The bottom line here is that your members will be your best ambassadors and they are likely willing to play a role in helping you sell the association as essential for doing business.
Jon Broadbooks is founder of White Blaze Strategies, a non-profit consulting firm specializing in communications. Reach him at [email protected].